


The Serpent King

by Blackshade379



Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-20 01:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5987086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackshade379/pseuds/Blackshade379
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the height of the cold war, a secret sector of the United States government, Archangel, created soldiers of immense strength and intelligence - The Guardians - to do the government's dirty work. Twenty years ago, they lost control of the program. The program was exposed to the public. In retribution, the US government decided to liquidate the project, killing all the Guardians except one - Tucker Thorne a.k.a "Serpent King". </p>
<p>In anger, Serpent King swore to avenge his fallen brothers, vowing to destroy Archangel, no matter the cost.</p>
<p>For years, Thorne has lurked in the shadows of nightmare and myth, plotting his revenge against Archangel. In the vastness of the criminal underworld, the Serpent King has risen to unimaginable power, with an insatiable desire to control all those he deems lesser than him. With an army behind him, he is almost ready to unleash hell upon an unsuspecting world. Now, all he needs is the final part of his plan...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Senate Hill memorial hospital**

  
In the emergency room, things were just beginning to quieten down. There were no more people screaming, no more people begging him for help, no more idiots claiming to have their limbs trapped in some obscenely stupid contraption and most important of all, it was one minute past three in the morning.

  
Desh leapt out of his chair “Right! That is my shift over. If you need anything, please do not call me. Wait for Dr Motler” Desh ignored the glares he received from the other night nurses as he made his way out of the ER. The great thing about being chief doctor was choosing your own hours, and he wasn’t staying a minute more than he was being paid for.

  
Desh walked into the staff locker room and began stripping out of his work uniform. He pulled his leather jacket on and all of a sudden, his hand froze halfway to grabbing his watch off the shelf. He sighed and shook his head before he asked.

  
“Does the Serpent King linger in the shadows out of fear…or of childish need to impress?”

  
Without turning round, Desh could pinpoint the exact locations of three men as they stepped out of the shadows. He slowly reached for the copy of the bible he kept in his locker but never once read. Desh flipped open the cover and pulled out a blade concealed in the pages of the book.

  
“You will come with us” the man standing directly behind Desh said

  
“Ah, merely the Serpent’s underlings” Desh realised “Tell me, do you come with the intention to kill or take me while my heart still beats?”

  
“You will come” the man repeated

  
“Do you know the first rule of being a doctor?” Desh asked instead as he ran his fingers along the jagged edges of his serrated blade.

  
None of the men responded.

  
Desh twirled the blade in his hands slowly, gripping the hilt of the dagger before turning on the spot. Desh threw the blade across the room, hitting the man behind him in the shoulder. He ran at the next guy, grabbing him by the lapel of his jacket and throwing him into the wall. There was a crunch as the man’s skull fractured against the brick surface.

  
*click*

  
Desh spun and in one, quick motion, snatched the gun away from the third guy and flipped the pistol so that he could aim it at the man’s head. Without hesitation, Desh quickly pulled the trigger, shooting the man in the face.

  
Desh crouched by the first man with a knife sticking out of his shoulder. Desh pulled the knife out, bringing a large lump of the man’s flesh with it.

  
“’Do no harm’” Desh quoted. He looked at the man “I never really understood it, you know. How’s a doctor supposed to do no harm if he cuts people for a living?” Desh pushed himself to his feet. He picked the flesh off his blade and held it up to the light to examine it “Of course, my day job doesn’t exactly require blades like this”

  
Suddenly, Desh drove the blade straight through the top of the man’s head. Blood splattered across Desh’s face and across the floor.

  
“Fortunately, my skills have not deteriorated in my absence” Desh said enthusiastically. He patted the man on the shoulder and pushed his limp body to the ground.

  
Desh walked over the bodies of the Serpent King’s mercenaries and locked the door behind him. He placed a ‘Do not enter’ sign over the door and looked around to make sure that no-one was watching. He passed an innocent looking night nurse on the way out. He leaned down to her height and whispered into her ear

  
“I would give it a couple of minutes. Someone made a right mess in there” Desh said, jutting his head in the direction of the locker room.

  
Before she could say anything, Desh made a quick escape out the fire exit and down to the parking lot. There was only one thing on his mind now.

  
_Run._

  
Later, Desh’s apartment goes up in flames, taking all his personal belongings with it, except his laptop. Only his laptop. His keys, wallet and ID are found in a smouldering pile of ash in the middle of his apartment.

  
Desh boarded the first bus heading for the east coast, hoping that he could outrun the looming storm that gathered above the city. As the bus drove away from the city, Desh realised that perhaps the storm carried more than just rainwater and electrical charges.

  
For him, it meant death and destruction was coming. Always coming, never could he find a place to be safe, never would he be free. He would always be running from the last Guardian. Well…the second last Guardian.

  
Desh lifted up his sleeve and read the groupings of letters and numbers tattooed to his skin.

  
_**‘Guardian - #316 (Desh)'** _

  
Desh covered up his arm again quickly and watched as the lights of the city disappeared one by one in the distance.


	2. Chapter 2

Desh had experienced discomfort before. He had been tortured for information by some of the most notorious warlords in the world. He had even listened to several Madonna CDs. But nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the utter misery of public transport.

The bus dropped him off somewhere in the middle of New York. Desh pushed his way through the crowds of people at the bus terminal and stepped out into the over-crowded street. He swiped an ‘I heart New York’ hoodie from a street vendor as he passed it. The man selling the merchandise was too busy dealing with crowds of tourists for him to notice Desh’s movements.

He pulled the hood over his face as he rounded a corner onto 31st street. Before him was a bank nicknamed ‘The Colosseum’.

Besides the White House, the building was probably the safest place in the world. Over eight hundred attempted robberies and not one of them ever made it past the front door, so the rumours went anyway.

Officially, the bank catered to the one percent of America’s richest but, in reality, its CEO had fingers in every criminal enterprise in the United States. He secretly funded drug cartels, smuggling rings, terrorist cells…anything that can bring in a profit on the black market.

Desh confidently walked up to the reception desk and requested to see the manager. The woman sat behind the desk scoffed at him

“Seriously? Dressed like that?” she snorted and looked down at her computer again “Don’t waste my time with your nonsense. Does this look like a homeless shelter?”

Desh slammed a large wad of cash on the desk in front of her and looked at her expectantly “How about now?” he demanded

The receptionist’s face dropped

…

Desh was led to the vaults underneath the building, with the bank’s manager apologising profusely as he escorted him down into the depths of the bank.

“And, may I say once again, sir, how sorry I am for the treatment you received when you arrived. Please rest assured that that staff member has been removed from her position and terminated with immediate effect”

Desh ignored him and remained silent as he followed the man dressed in an expensive three piece suit with a gold-plated Rolex on his right wrist and impeccably white teeth. It was men like this that Desh made a career out of. He specialised in making high-profile people have ‘accidents’ that always benefited the United States in some way or another.

_Terminated_ Desh thought smugly with a sly grin _with immediate effect_

“Here we are, sir” The manager said as he showed Desh into a large room with lots of safety-deposit boxes in the walls “Please know that your belongings will be treated with the utmost respect and discretion”

Desh looked at the man and grunted “Great” When the manager didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave, Desh raised both eyebrows and asked “Mr Agelvy?”

“Yes, sir?” the manager asked

“Get out” Desh said through gritted teeth

“Oh! My apologies, sir” The manager said and quickly scurried out of the room, closing the door behind him

Desh quickly set down his rucksack on the table in the middle of the room and dug out a laptop. He turned on the screen and was presented with two options:

  * ****Run scan****


  * **Erase hard drive**



 

Desh clicked the first option and watched as his screen started running a program and a progress bar came up and slowly started to move across the screen. Before it finished, Desh closed the laptop and placed it inside the safety deposit box. He picked the tray up and inserted it back into the empty slot in the wall of other boxes.

Desh walked over to the door and heard several voices coming from the other side

“Excuse me, sir. Have you seen this gentleman recently?”

There were two NYPD detectives talking with the bank manager and one of them was showing a picture of Desh’s face.

“May I ask what this is in connection with?” the manager requested, trying to keep a straight face, even though Desh could already tell the man was going to rat him out.

“He’s a suspect in several homicide investigations currently ongoing in another state” The second detective said “Are you saying you _have_ seen him?”

“Oh, my goodness. Yes, I’m afraid I have. He was just here a few minutes ago” Desh sighed and banged his head against the wall. _Damnit_ he cursed. It had been so long since he had to kill a law enforcement officer. It was the least pleasant thing he ever had to do. Desh slowly pulled out a knife from his waistband and prepared to attack “But, he left just a few moments ago” Desh suddenly lifted his head in surprise. Wait, what?

“Do you know where he went?” the first detective asked

“I’m not certain. But, I think he had a brochure for one of the river ferries on 1st street. Does that help?” the manager asked in an innocent tone

“Thank you for your help. We’ll be in touch” The detectives quickly turned and walked away. Desh breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the room once he was certain they were gone.

“I underestimated you, Mr Agelvy” Desh said as the two men casually walked through the vaults towards the exit “You have my apologies”

“No need, sir. As I said, discretion is our top priority” The manager said as he held the door open for Desh “Besides, it is not the first time we have had to lie to the NYPD to protect our clients” the man said cryptically

Desh just smiled, safe in the knowledge that he was in the clear.

For now.

…

Desh bought three plane tickets, one international and two to other states. He didn’t board any of them. Instead, he took a taxi to Staten Island and bribed his way onto a freighter heading for Cuba. Relations between the United States and Cuba were at an all-time low, so he should be safe for at least a few days, maybe a week, if he was lucky.

The captain gave him one of the cabins for a considerable price. But, it was worth it for the privacy it awarded him. He tossed his backpack down next to his bunk and sat down on the grubby piece of cloth the freighter company called a bed and pulled out his phone. He scrolled down to the last contact.

The person on the other end picked up after the second ring “Hello?”

“It’s me…we need to talk”

…

As night fell, Desh stepped out onto the deck. New York was long behind them and they were now in the middle of open water. The crew gave him a wide berth and looked at him as if he was something foreign, alien almost. Which wasn’t far from the truth. He was a genetically modified soldier from a war that most people didn’t even remember.

Desh slowly walked up and down the side of the ship, looking out at the ocean. The feeling of his gun pressed against his waist brought him a comfort like no other. The recent excitement brought back memories of a life Desh never though he’d experience again. Working for Archangel, his brothers – the Guardians.

The Serpent King.

All he remembers now is fire. The screams of the other Guardians as the building he was housed in burned to the ground. When the United States government - the people he swore to serve - came to destroy what they had created, they didn’t leave any survivors.

Desh didn’t know how long he managed to survive in the rubble, it could have been hours, it could have been days. All he knows is that when he woke up it was dark, and everything around him was dead. Dead scientists, dead soldiers…dead Guardians.

But, he did what a good soldier does, he adapted. He created a new life for himself, he became a doctor, and he got rich. He disappeared into the masses. He became ordinary. He managed to stay hidden for decades. But, he always knew his life was on a clock. Each second bringing him ever closer to the end of the line.

But, Desh has never been normal. There is only one place for him now.

It’s called hell.

And hell is here.


End file.
